HMD Global Planning To Create A 5G Smartphone Factory In Europe For The First Time

Nokia will produce smartphones on European soil. (photo: twitter @ancona_di)

JAKARTA - AHMD Global Oy, license holder of the phone brand Nokia, announced on Saturday February 25 that it is developing the ability and process of producing 5G devices in Europe this year.

Europe does not have a large smartphone manufacturing presence, as all major companies, including Apple and Samsung, make their phones in Asia to cut production costs.

HMD said in a news release that it was working with a number of IT security partners on in-depth software and testing as an early stage of manufacturing and smartphone testing in Europe.

Companies did not disclose which country in Europe, they plan to set up their factories.

The European Union has encouraged companies to build factories in key sectors, issue legislation and offer subsidies such as those for European chips with the European Chips Act.

"While we cannot discuss certain European subsidies, we are working with several parties in the public and private sectors in Europe to encourage manufacturing and research and development in Europe," HMD marketing chief Lars Silberbauer told Reuters.

In 2016, HMD signed a 10-year exclusive license agreement with Nokia Oyj, once the world's largest phone manufacturer, to create Nokia's smartphone and tablet.

At that time, Nokia had lost the smartphone war and sold all of her handset businesses to Microsoft in 2014. Now, Nokia is focused on telecommunications network equipment.

HMD uses the remaining mobile patents and Foxconn manufacturing facilities in Taiwan to build new lines of smartphones to compete with other budget android phone manufacturers.

The company also announced three smartphones on Saturday - Nokia G22, Nokia C32, and Nokia C22 - with a battery life of three days and said it would start repairing phones in collaboration with the iFixit repair company.